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[Illustration]
YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY
OF
ROME.
BY
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE,
AUTHOR OF "THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE," "BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS," "YOUNG FOLKS'
HISTORY OF FRANCE," &c.
[Illustration]
BOSTON:
ESTES & LAURIAT,
301 WASHINGTON STREET.
COPYRIGHT BY
D. LOTHROP & CO. and ESTES & LAURIAT.
1880.
PREFACE.
This sketch of the History of Rome covers the period till the reign of
Charles the Great as head of the new Western Empire. The history has
been given as briefly as could be done consistently with such details as
can alone make it interesting to all classes of readers.
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE.
1.--Italy 13
2.--The Wanderings of Æneas 21
3.--The Founding of Rome. B.C. 753-713 31
4.--Numa and Tullus. B.C. 713-618 39
5.--The Driving Out of the Tarquins. B.C. 578-309 47
6.--The War with Porsena 55
7.--The Roman Government 66
8.--Menenius Agrippa's Fable. B.C. 494 74
9.--Coriolanus and Cincinnatus. B.C. 458 84
10.--The Decemvirs. B.C. 450 92
11.--Camillus' Banishment 101
12.--The Sack of Rome. B.C. 390 110
13.--The Plebeian Consulate. B.C. 367 119
14.--The Devotion of Decius. B.C. 357 127
15.--The Samnite Wars 135
16.--The War with Pyrrhus. 280-271 144
17.--The First Punic War. 264-240 151
18.--Conquest of Cisalpine Gaul. 240-219 163
19.--The Second Punic War. 219 172
20. The First Eastern War. 215-183 181
21.--The Conquest of Greece, Corinth, and Carthage. 179-145 188
22.--The Gracchi. 137-122 195
23.--The Wars of Marius. 106-98 203
24.--The Adventures of Marius. 93-84 212
25.--Sulla's Proscription. 88-71 220
26.--The Career of Pompeius. 70-63 229
27.--Pompeius and Cæsar. 61-48 242
28.--Julius Cæsar. 48-44 252
29.--The Second Triumvirate. 44-33 263
30.--Cæsar Augustus. B.C. 33 A.D. 14 273
31.--Tiberius and Caligula. A.D. 14-41 285
32.--Claudius and Nero. A.D. 41-68 297
33.--The Flavian Family. 62-96 305
34.--The Age of the Antonines. 96-194 317
35.--The Prætorian Influence. 197-284 326
36.--The Division of the Empire. 284-312 337
37.--Constantine the Great. 312-337 345
38.--Constantius. 337-364 355
39.--Valentinian and his Family. 364-392 364
40.--Theodosius the Great. 392-395 374
41.--Alaric the Goth. 395-410 383
42.--The Vandals. 403 394
43.--Attila the Hun. 435-457 404
44.--Theodoric the Ostrogoth. 457-561 416
45.--Belisarius. 533-563 425
46.--Pope Gregory the Great. 563-800 434
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Pope's Doortender. (_Frontispiece._) PAGE.
The Tiber 14
Curious Pottery 15
Jupiter 17
The Coast 23
Mount Etna 25
Carthage 28
Roman Soldier 30
Gladiatorial Shows at a Banquet 34
The Forum 37
Janus 41
Actors 45
Sybil's Cave 50
Brutus condemning his sons 57
Roman Ensigns, Standards, Trumpets etc. 63
Head of Jupiter 68
Female Costumes 70
Female Costumes 71
Senatorial Palace 79
View of a Roman Harbor 81
Roman Camp 87
Ploughing 89
Death of Virginia 95
Chariot Races 98
Arrow Machine 102
Siege Machine 105
Ruins of the Forum at Rome 111
Entry of the Forum Romanum by the Via Sacra 117
Costumes 120
Costume 121
Curtius leaping into the Gulf 125
The Apennines 129
Combat between a Mirmillo and a Samnite 137
Combat between a light armed Gladiator and a Samnite 137
Ancient Rome 141
Pyrrhus 145
Roman Orator 147
Roman Ship 153
Roman Order of Battle 159
The wounded Gaul 165
Hannibal's Vow 168
In the Pyrenees 170
Meeting of Hannibal and Scipio at Zama 173
Archimedes 178
Hannibal 184
Corinth 190
Cornelia and her Sons 196
Roman Centurion 201
Marius 205
One of the Trophies, called of Marius,
at the Capitol at Rome 207
The Catapult 215
Island on the Coast 217
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence 223
Cornelius Sulla 225
Coast of Tyre 231
Mountains of Armenia 235
Cicero 238
Colossal Statue of Pompeius of the
Palazzo Spada of Rome 239
Pompeius 243
Amphitheatre 246
The Arena 247
Julius Cæsar 253
Cato 254
Funeral Solemnities in the Columbarium of
the House of Julius Cæsar at the
Porta Capena in Rome 255
Marcus Antonius 265
Marcus Brutus 268
Alexandria 270
Caius Octavius 272
Statue of Augustus at the Vatican 275
Paintings in the House of Livia 281
Ruins of the Palaces of Tiberius 287
Agrippina 290
Rome in the time of Augustus Cæsar 293
Claudius 298
Nero 301
Arch of Titus 308
Vesuvius previous to the Eruption of A.D. 63 311
Persecution of the Christians 314
Coin of Nero 316
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina 319
Marcus Aurelius 325
Septimus Severus 327
Antioch 328
Alexander Severus 329
Temple of the Sun at Palmyra 332
The Catacombs at Rome 333
Coin of Severus 336
Diocletian 338
Diocletian in Retirement 341
Constantine the Great 343
Constantinople 347
Council of Nicea 349
Catacombs 352
Julian 357
Arch of Constantine 361
Alexandria 365
Goths 367
Convent on the Hills 372
Julian Alps 375
Roman Hall of Justice 377
Colonnades of St. Peter at Rome 385
Alaric's Burial 391
Roman Clock 396
Spanish Coast 398
Vandals plundering 401
Pyramids and Sphynx, Egypt 403
Hunnish Camp 405
St. Mark's, Venice 409
The Pope's House 413
Romulus Augustus resigns the Crown 419
Illustration 423
Naples 427
Constantinople 429
Pope Gregory the Great 435
The Pope's Pulpit 437
Battle of Tours 441
[Illustration]
YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF ROME.
CHAPTER I.
ITALY.
I am going to tell you next about the most famous nation in the world.
Going westward from Greece another peninsula stretches down into the
Mediterranean. The Apennine Mountains run like a limb stretching out of
the Alps to the south eastward, and on them seems formed that land,
shaped somewhat like a leg, which is called Italy.
Round the streams that flowed down from these hills, valleys of fertile
soil formed themselves, and a great many different tribes and people
took up their abode there, before there was any history to explain their
coming. Putting together what can be proved about them, it is plain,
however, that most of them came of that old stock from which the Greeks
descended, and to which we belong ourselves, and they spoke a language
which had the same root as ours and as the Greek. From one of these
nations the best known form of this, as it was polished in later times,
was called Latin, from the tribe who spoke it.
[Illustration: THE TIBER.]
About the middle of the peninsula there runs down, westward from the
Apennines, a river called the Tiber, flowing rapidly between seven low
hills, which recede as it approaches the sea. One, in especial, called
the Palatine Hill, rose separately, with a flat top and steep sides,
about four hundred yards from the river, and girdled in by the other
six. This was the place where the great Roman power grew up from
beginnings, the truth of which cannot now be discovered.
[Illustration: CURIOUS POTTERY.]
There were several nations living round these hills--the Etruscans,
Sabines, and Latins being the chief. The homes of these nations seem to
have been in the valleys round the spurs of the Apennines, where they
had farms and fed their flocks; but above them was always the hill which
they had fortified as strongly as possible, and where they took refuge
if their enemies attacked them. The Etruscans built very mighty walls,
and also managed the drainage of their cities wonderfully well. Many of
their works remain to this day, and, in especial, their monuments have
been opened, and the tomb of each chief has been found, adorned with
figures of himself, half lying, half sitting; also curious pottery in
red and black, from which something of their lives and ways is to be
made out. They spoke a different language from what has become Latin,
and they had a different religion, believing in one great Soul of the
World, and also thinking much of rewards and punishments after death.
But we know hardly anything about them, except that their chiefs were
called Lucumos, and that they once had a wide power which they had lost
before the time of history. The Romans called them Tusci, and Tuscany
still keeps its name.
The Latins and the Sabines were more alike, and also more like the
Greeks. There were a great many settlements of Greeks in the southern
parts of Italy, and they learnt something from them. They had a great
many gods. Every house had its own guardian. These were called Lares, or
Penates, and were generally represented as little figures of dogs lying
by the hearth, or as brass bars with dogs' heads. This is the reason
that the bars which close in an open hearth are still called dogs.
Whenever there was a meal in the house the master began by pouring out
wine to the Lares, and also to his own ancestors, of whom he kept
figures; for these natives thought much of their families, and all one
family had the same name, like our surname, such as Tullius or Appius,
the daughters only changing it by making it end in _a_ instead of
_us_, and the men having separate names standing first, such as
Marcus or Lucius, though their sisters were only numbered to distinguish
them.
[Illustration: JUPITER]
Each city had a guardian spirit, each stream its nymph, each wood its
faun; also there were gods to whom the boundary stones of estates were
dedicated. There was a goddess of fruits called Pomona, and a god of
fruits named Vertumnus. In their names the fields and the crops were
solemnly blest, and all were sacred to Saturn. He, according to the old
legends, had first taught husbandry, and when he reigned in Italy there
was a golden age, when every one had his own field, lived by his own
handiwork, and kept no slaves. There was a feast in honor of this time
every year called the Saturnalia, when for a few days the slaves were
all allowed to act as if they were free, and have all kinds of wild
sports and merriment. Afterwards, when Greek learning came in, Saturn
was mixed up with the Greek Kronos, or Time, who devours his offspring,
and the reaping-hook his figures used to carry for harvest became Time's
scythe. The sky-god, Zeus or Deus Pater (or father), was shortened into
Jupiter; Juno was his wife, and Mars was god of war, and in Greek times
was supposed to be the same as Ares; Pallas Athene was joined with the
Latin Minerva; Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, was called Vesta; and,
in truth, we talk of the Greek gods by their Latin names. The old Greek
tales were not known to the Latins in their first times, but only
afterwards learnt from the Greeks. They seem to have thought of their
gods as graver, higher beings, further off, and less capricious and
fanciful than the legends about the weather had made them seem to the
Greeks. Indeed, these Latins were a harder, tougher, graver, fiercer,
more business-like race altogether than the Greeks; not so clever,
thoughtful, or poetical, but with more of what we should now call
sterling stuff in them.
At least so it was with that great nation which spoke their language,
and seems to have been an offshoot from them. Rome, the name of which is
said to mean the famous, is thought to have been at first a cluster of
little villages, with forts to protect them on the hills, and temples in
the forts. Jupiter had a temple on the Capitoline Hill, with cells for
his worship, and that of Juno and Minerva; and the two-faced Janus, the
god of gates, had his upon the Janicular Hill. Besides these, there were
the Palatine, the Esquiline, the Aventine, the Cælian, and the Quirinal.
The people of these villages called themselves Quirites, or spearmen,
when they formed themselves into an army and made war on their
neighbors, the Sabines and Latins, and by-and-by built a wall enclosing
all the seven hills, and with a strip of ground within, free from
houses, where sacrifices were offered and omens sought for.
The history of these people was not written till long after they had
grown to be a mighty and terrible power, and had also picked up many
Greek notions. Then they seem to have made their history backwards, and
worked up their old stories and songs to explain the names and customs
they found among them, and the tales they told were formed into a great
history by one Titus Livius. It is needful to know these stories which
every one used to believe to be really history; so we will tell them
first, beginning, however, with a story told by the poet Virgil.